


Christmas Lights

by waterlily7210



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Best Friends, Christmas, Christmas Miracles, Friendship, Friendship/Love, Paopu Fruit, subtle powers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-11
Updated: 2016-12-26
Packaged: 2018-09-07 22:31:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,440
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8818681
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/waterlily7210/pseuds/waterlily7210
Summary: Three special friends.Nine years of separation.Two special Christmas Eves forever etched into their memories.Infinite opportunities for magic.Just a simple Christmas themed story about friendship and love, and the every day magic all around us.





	1. The Last Christmas: A Prologue

The three best friends in the whole entire world (at least in their 9 and 10-year-old opinions) huddled together in their super secret special place. Far enough in the cave to provide shelter, but within view of the outside so they could watch in case the impossible happened. In their hands, they each held a partially eaten third of the star-shaped fruit they had teamed up to pick earlier that afternoon.

They didn’t say anything as they ate, but then, being them, they didn’t have to. There was already enough of a cacophony of emotion, thought, and expression dancing between them, echoing in the silence of the cave.

This weekly routine of coming out here and sharing a Paopu fruit had been going on for a couple months at this point. The legend only mentioned needing to do it once for the magic forever binding them together to take effect, but they were nothing if not thorough. They were taking no risks.

Besides. Today was special.

It was one of those few and far between days where the cold winds of winter managed to reach Destiny Islands, blowing straight through the resident’s heaviest (unfortunately light) jackets and leaving the usually crowded beaches almost barren.

Almost only because these three children couldn’t bring themselves to stay inside and miss out on their new tradition. Especially when the weatherman had actually mentioned the slightest potential for snow.

Under different circumstances, their parents might have questioned their rowing out to the smaller set of islands on a day such as today. But knowing just how few days these three best friends had left together allowed for a leniency they otherwise might not have been willing to muster. Not to mention, it was a holiday, after all.

This was indeed a special, bittersweet Christmas Eve for the three best friends. Of course, after having spent the larger halves of their short lives attached at the hip, this would be their first time seeing snow. And their last Christmas together.

It wasn’t unheard of for families to move away from Destiny Islands. In fact, it was more expected than not. The tiny islands only held so many job opportunities for the adults who moved there. That didn’t mean that the three of them were too happy about being separated.

First to leave was the eldest by a whole fourteen months. A stoic, silver-haired boy whose dad, restless spirit that he was, had made it clear that he and his son were leaving at the turn of the year.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, the spunky, indigo eyed girl’s parents had both gotten offered jobs at some university on the mainland and were hoping to be settled in by the start of the following school year.

Only the innocent, big-eyed, spiky-haired boy’s mom, herself one of the few native-born Destiny Islanders, had no intention of ever leaving their family’s stomping grounds.

So there they sat, in their comfortable, almost magical silence, munching away at the sticky fruit, all thoughts focused on each other and their futures. There was a lot to think about for each of them. Until recently they had never even considered the possibility of not spending every possible moment of their foreseeable futures in each other’s company. For the two moving away, one saw the idea as both scary and exciting, for the other, it was just a matter of accepting that it would happen. For the boy being left behind, he just knew that he would miss the others terribly, but was hopeful for them nonetheless.

It was the eldest one who first caught sight of the falling bits of white outside of the cave. Before he could so much as open his mouth, the other two popped their heads up, having noticed the other’s sudden change of mood.

In perfect sync, they each stood up, took in each other’s excited faces and rushed out to experience the magic made solid they had only heard about in stories and songs.

For a while, the Christmas snow worked it’s magic on the three of them; allowing them to forget the impending deadlines, looming so close. Their shrieks of laughter and impromptu caroling to the fish and the birds were carried by the strangely cold, strong winds, all the way back to the big island. Even from inside their respective homes, the islanders could hear the cheery sounds.

Christmas came and went with a flurry of excitement and warmth, followed by the new year forcing its way in; the old year taking the older boy off to places unknown with it as it left.

The remaining few months before the second departure passed with relentless speed, slightly too fast for the girl in question, and eventually, she too was spirited away to her new home.

The pain of the parting blows wasn't so bad for each of them, at first, as they tried their hardest to communicate through the mail. This just couldn’t last, however, as the notoriously unreliable mail service to the Islands where the final boy remained seemed determined to keep the cuts of separation clean.

The situation proved harder than any of them had originally imagined, but it wasn’t a dramatic thing. Tears were shed, loneliness took up a permanent residence in the back of their minds, they each eventually gave up on such childish fantasies as Paopu magic, and the favorites of their experiences together became treasured memories.

As time tends to do, it marched merrily on, oblivious to any disruptions in the lives of those caught up in its flow.

Nine more Christmas Eves passed, lengthening their bodies and broadening their horizons. Yet somehow the treasured memories of childhoods far more magical than anything real life had shown them since never dulled.

Whether this was a good thing or not was up for debate, however. While such wonderful memories could be a beacon of warmth as life wound its way around them; they were also a poison, reminding each of them of what they had been lucky enough to have, and then lost.

But no matter what, every time Christmas rolled around, the memories would resurface, keeping bonds unseen and unfelt by the three of them, and untouched by time and space, tied tightly to each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello!! Welcome to the end of the chapter! I thank you so much for making it to the end and hope hope hope you enjoyed the ride! I know it's only just begun, but I would love to hear any thoughts you have on this first installment!!
> 
> This whole story really stemmed from my absolute love for Christmas and want to share it, so I can only hope that as the story progresses, you can agree!
> 
> TTFN!!


	2. The New Christmas: Sora

People always think love is just colored bright red. But they’re wrong, Sora thought as he walked down the deserted road, away from campus.

It’s so much more beautiful than that. It glows in a way nothing else could, and lights up the face of whoever it touches.

He felt a hint of a smile spread across his face at the thought, sending a few golden flecks of happiness rising silently into the air around him.

To be fair, it was an easy mistake to make. That bright, hot crimson shade of red everyone always thinks of is the color of passion, which so often comes entwined with the more noticeable flavors of love. But passion doesn’t always apply to love. It could be tangled within anger too; why else would passionate anger be described as “seeing red”?

But love? Well, love is Sora’s favorite color. It’s also his favorite emotion, but then that wouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone.

 

Sora could clearly remember the first time he realized other people couldn’t see emotions. In second grade, he had loudly asked the always smiley, very kind teacher why she didn’t like her job, as the grayish purple fog of dread once again filled the room as class started. No one should be that generally unhappy, he had figured. When she asked what he meant, he had gestured to the fog suffocating the room. But looking around, none of the faces looking at him had any idea what he was talking about, and violet wisps of confusion were starting to dart towards him. Swirling around him from all directions.

No one knew what he was talking about. No one else saw what he did. The realization had sent the dull grays and blues of disappointment and sadness seeping outward from him toward everyone in sight. How empty and dull the world must look without the myriad of colors dancing from person to person to place to object. Each having their own unique pattern and flow.

The other kids had been quick to dismiss the statement as Sora being his usual overly friendly, silly self, which was nice. The adults seemed to keep a little bit of a closer eye on him than they had before, but when Sora never brought up such things in public again, they too eventually chalked it up to Sora’s infamous imagination.

His two best friends had never questioned him, though. THEY knew what Sora saw was real. THEY knew what it felt like to realize that no one else experienced the world the way they did.

They just accepted him for who he was and loved him unconditionally.

He sure missed them, he thought, as the familiar cold gray blanket of loneliness wrapped itself around him.

It’s not like he hadn’t made many friends since they had each moved away. Sora had always been good at making friends. Knowing when something was wrong and being able to see what made people genuinely happy made making friends a very easy task.

But no one had ever understood Sora like they had. There was just something about Kairi and Riku, maybe it was their shared experiences, maybe it was just who they were as people, Sora wasn’t sure. But the three of them had connected like no one else ever had. They had always been, (and continued to be, despite having lost contact; if Sora was being honest) his best friends.

 

The glow of the Christmas lights complemented by the carols playing in his headphones quickly brought him back to the present as he continued his evening stroll. He wasn’t heading anywhere in particular, but his empty dorm was so drab, and the fresh snow on the ground had been so inviting, he hadn’t seen any reason NOT to head outside for a bit.

Even without the usual crowds of emotions whizzing by and dancing around in the air, the glow of colorful decorations reflecting off the white snow was always undeniably beautiful.

It was always around Christmas time that Sora found himself contemplating the color of love. Which makes sense, because Christmas means an abundance of Christmas lights. And the glow of Christmas lights, as Sora had realized many Christmases before, was the closest thing to the actual color of love he had ever been able to find.

Sora figured that on some level, normal people must also sense the similarity between their warming glow and the shimmering tendrils of emotion that wove their way between people, twisting and dancing through the air from person to person. Which was why Christmas time was also his favorite season. Because love was somehow always on the rise.

It was also a time for hope, Sora was reminded, as a shimmering, silvery white trail timidly would its way around him, drawing his attention away from the pretty lights.

Being who he was, it didn’t occur to him to just look around for the source of the hope so clearly focused on him. Instead, he stopped where he was and spun on the spot, following the trail as it wrapped and danced around him until it eventually lead off across the street, to his right.

As he twirled around, golden flecks of a happiness that wasn’t his own began to join the trail of hope.

A familiar giggle, aged quite a bit, but far more easily recognizable than he would have expected greeted his ears as his eyes finally caught up to the only other person Sora had seen all day.

He had just enough time to gasp in surprise, a sudden flash of bright orange, before a streak of purple coat, white ear muffs, and long red hair barreled into him, emitting a high-pitched squeal of delight. Gold, hot pink, warm red, silver, and violent violet positively radiating out of her in pulses.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tadaa!!   
> Here'st the first main chapter!   
> This story really is a just for fun project for me that I've decided to post in part just because I haven't posted anything in so long.  
> But I REALLY REALLY hope you are enjoying it!  
> Please let me know what you think!!  
> TTFN!


	3. The New Christmas: Kairi

Kairi has always been a people person. 

She really has. 

It’s hard not to be when you have undeniable evidence that nearly everyone you meet means well and is just trying their hardest screaming at you (sometimes literally) 24/7.

That does not mean she’s a big fan of crowds or crowded places. Especially the kinds of crowds that are full of stress that everyone in said crowd is trying their hardest to hide.

Like tonight’s annual Christmas Eve dinner, full of more extended family and friends than Kairi is usually aware of having the rest of the year.

It wasn’t anyone’s fault, and Kairi could never bring herself to be upset with any of the lovely people she called family. But once it reached that time of night where the cheerful dinner conversations were getting drowned out by the (overly sugared, somewhat tipsy, uncomfortably stressed and excited) incoherent ramblings or blatant screamings of her family’s subconscious minds; Kairi just wanted to escape.

Which was how she found herself wandering the streets of the small college town that had been her home and official stomping grounds for almost a decade, now. 

Most of the year, the overabundance of college students wandering drunkenly down the streets at night made them no less overwhelming than the cramped house that was currently bursting with excited children and stressed out adults.

However, tonight the streets were deserted. Almost everyone on campus had gone home for the holiday break, giving Kairi a rare opportunity to truly be alone.

For tonight’s walk, she figured she might head to the Radiant Gardens. At the edge of downtown Hollow Bastion, the lovely park that doubled as the entrance to campus was fully lit with Christmas lights and had the advantage of being open all night long.

She used to absolutely hate being alone. When 99 percent of her day (even when everyone near her was silent or asleep) was full of the constant, nonsensical and wordless expressions coming from the minds of everyone around her; genuine silence used to feel suffocatingly lonely.

But then, most of her days used to be filled with the rambling minds of her two best friends. 

 

Sora’s mind had nearly always been a bright, pleasant hum, only slipping into a worried or unhappy whine on the rare occasions where he found himself completely helpless in fixing some problem or another, whether that was getting sick or being unable to help someone. Either way, it almost never happened and the vibrant hum was such a pleasant sound, Kairi never got sick of it. As many happy, kind, and friendly people as Kairi had met since then, she had never come across someone whose mind was as genuinely warm and welcoming as Sora’s had been.

Riku, on the other hand, was one of those rare people whose subconscious mind actually matched what he said. If his mind sounded happy, you could hear the same sound mirrored in his laugh, if he was angry or hurt, the same emotion would be expressed in both his eyes and the sound of his mind. Sure he could be secretive and private, but even still, he was straight-forward about it. His steadfast sincerity and unshakable loyalty were always so comforting and reassuring. She felt like she could always trust him. This, Kairi had learned in his absence was a trait painfully hard to come by.

The two of them hadn’t been the first kids she had met when she had moved to Destiny Islands, but it hadn’t taken very long before she had been drawn to them and their uniquely enjoyable minds.

Of the two of them, it had been Riku who had first noticed her. At the time she hadn’t understood why he kept turning to look at her every time they were in the same room. Of course, he had explained it later, after much prompting from both herself and Sora.

It had unsurprisingly been Sora who had approached her first, however. Kairi could no longer remember the exact words he had used. Something along the lines of “Hi there, I’m Sora! That’s Riku. Don’t worry, he thinks you look friendly. Want to come swimming?” Sora must have seen the confusion and concern Kairi had been directing towards Riku after noticing him studying her.

From that day onward, they had been inseparable and her days were spent with the warm and comfortable soundtrack of her two best friend’s minds, and any time away from those sounds had been considered uncomfortable.

Of course, once her family moved, what had once been uncomfortable eventually became the norm and she got over it. While she didn’t meet anyone else with such comforting or pleasant minds, she met her fair share of awesome people and eventually learned that silence could be a good thing.

Which was why she was braving the cold on Christmas Eve night.

And like she did every Christmas Eve night, Kairi looked up at the stars (or what stars she could see beyond the lights of the town) and wished for the well-being of her two best friends. Hoping for their continued happiness and that maybe, someday, if she was really lucky, she might see either Sora or Riku again.

 

At first, she thought the familiar, happy hum tickling faintly at the edges of her mind was a gift of her memory, echoing through the years as she reminisced. But when she was pulled back to the present and it had only gotten louder, specifically sounding like it was coming from her left, she had to check it out.

There was no way it could be who it sounded like. He’d lived on Destiny Islands and had never mentioned even hearing about Hollow Bastion or RGU.

That hum didn’t belong here.

And yet, the closer to the sound she got, the more distinct and familiar it became; until she was staring with her own eyes at a familiar head overly full of spiky brown hair, spinning around himself, eyes following a trail only he could see.

Sora.

The ocean blue eyes sealed the deal. No one else had eyes like that.

As if the speed of her approach could cancel out the years since she last saw him, she was suddenly racing the distance between them, no invitation necessary.

She heard his hum turn into a cheer as she darted toward him before they both fell just slightly too hard into the snowbank behind him.

“Kairi!!” He shouted, his voice had deepened with age, but it somehow retained that automatically friendly tone. It was impressive.

“Sora! This is real? How are you even here?!?!” Kairi asked, standing up, pulling the now taller boy to his feet with her.

After a moment of happy, confused sputtering and dusting themselves off, Sora looked back down at her, his internal cheer settling into a delighted chuckle.

“III happen to go to school here.” Sora answered, the sass in his voice sounding ridiculous. 

“What about you? I’ve never seen you on campus. What are you doing here?”

“I actually live here!” Kairi could just feel her own sass slipping into her voice as a smile crossed her face and her hands found their way to her hips.

They stood there chatting for a while. Kairi kind of got the feeling that neither of them was quite believing the other stood in front of them.

Eventually, though, the wetness from the snow had started to melt through their coats. Sora especially, in his not-quite-warm-enough jacket was beginning to shiver.

“Why don’t we get some hot cocoa?” Kairi suggested. Kairi wasn’t particularly familiar with the campus side of town, again having always wanted to avoid the sounds of the drunken, stressed out, horny college student minds. However, she did know that this close to campus, there had to be at least one or two cafes and coffee shops per block.

“Ooh! Or a MOCHA!!!” Sora cried out, the excitement in his exclamation rising in sync with the giddy giggle reverberating through his mind.

Figures. Of course, Sora would be a coffee drinker.

With a laugh, they both set off in the same direction. They each seemed to have the same vague idea of what coffee shop they were heading towards. One apparently neither of them had set foot in but had passed a few times and was the closest one to their current location.

As they neared the small shop, Kairi was relieved to see its lights on and open sign glowing. Sora chuckled, his eyes trained on the open sign as if it was putting on a show. Probably watching Kairi’s relief interacting the light of the sign.

When they were close enough, Sora jogged ahead of Kairi a couple paces to open the door. This time it was Kairi’s turn to giggle at her spiky friend. His shit-eating grin so big his eyes were squeezed shut coupled with the goofy, over-the-top bow just made it too tempting. So instead of walking straight in, she reached out to his shoulder, now waist high, and pushed. Sending him flailing around in a futile attempt to avoid hitting the ground again.

As Sora was clamoring back to his feet, Kairi turned on her heel and headed through the still open door. 

There were only a couple other patrons in the shop, their minds low, mumbled sighs, seemingly made all the wearier if not grudgingly amused by the sheer amount of cheer surrounding the newly reunited friends.

But something else caught Kairi’s attention, causing her head to whip around fast enough for her damp hair to smack her in the face. There, behind the counter, was a flash of silver hair. 

Not gray. 

Or white. 

Silver. 

But what brought her laughter to a halt wasn’t what she may or may not be seeing. 

Instead of the sighs from the others, there was a gasp. 

Actually, there were two identical gasps coming from the same person. 

Same silver haired person. 

One of the gasps was audible to anyone within earshot, including Sora who was only just now beginning to step inside. The other heard only by Kairi, but so identical to the actual gasp, it sparked years worth of memories of the same weird behavior.

There had only been one person whose internal monologue of non-verbal narration always matched so identically with his external expression. And he also just so happened to have the self-same silver hair and aquamarine eyes Kairi may or may not currently be staring at.

Said eyes somehow grew even larger and the gasps deepened (even if nothing else about his expression so much as hinted at recognition) as Sora stepped up, beside Kairi, finally looking up toward the source of Kairi’s amazement, among other things.

“Riku?” Sora said, his cracking voice an octave too high and a decibel too loud for the hole-in-the-wall cafe they were standing in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here's our lovely Kairi! I hope you had fun exploring her mind a bit! By now, I am sure you can guess what is coming next chapter! Haha.
> 
> As always, please let me know what you think!! And Merry (almost) Christmas!!


	4. The Next Christmas: Riku

For a split second, Riku saw his life flash before his eyes.

A pair of alarmingly bright lights had suddenly caught his attention outside the window, coming toward the storefront with unnerving speed.

To Riku, it looked to be a runaway car on a collision course with the cafe.

Riku didn’t even have time to yell out a warning or duck behind the cafe’s counter before the almost painfully bright lights stopped right outside the door.

And changed positions.

Two people.

They were two people. Not a speeding car.

But no one actually shone that brightly.

Glancing around; Riku quickly took in the few lonesome stragglers trying to fill the hollow of being alone during the holidays with caffeine, sugar, and the canned holiday music playing in the cafe.

As was the case with just about everyone in the world; the glow surrounding each of them was rather muted. Clearly defined and individual, sure. But nothing that stood out unless Riku was looking for it.

The one guy in the corner looked as tired of life as Riku felt, his colors dulled out to various shades of lackluster gray.

The couple closer to the middle of the dining area were clearly happy, excitable people, though the acrid green color they both shared left Riku on edge. Too many jealous, judgemental types shared that color.

Standing in front of the counter, currently looking past Riku in favor of the chalkboard menus behind him was a kind, warm, motherly person whose colors would have reminded Riku of cinnamon and honey were they not currently dulled down by a sense of chronic loneliness. Though the comfort radiating from her did provide a nice buffer between himself and the other patrons.

No one actually shone like the two individuals outside the door. Their pure silvery white and spectacularly golden auras so bright, had they been actual, visible light, Riku would have had to squint.

There were only two people Riku had ever encountered who looked like that.

They belonged in a different time and place.

A previous life, it felt like.

 

It had to have been, what, a decade now since he had last interacted with either Sora or Kairi.

He had actually been excited about the prospect of moving away at first. He hadn’t known then just how rare people like Sora and Kairi were. How undeservingly lucky he had been; having gotten to know people whose blindingly bright lights were so powerful, so all-consuming, they encompassed everyone around them. Riku included.

He had even deluded himself into thinking that he had belonged with people like them.

It had been a nice feeling.

It hadn’t been until after he and his dad had moved away that he began to notice how dark the world really was without the constant shining lights that were his two best friends.

It had been a man of harsh orange colors that made Riku squirm who caused the wreck that killed his dad two years into living on the mainland.

The four years after that were spent with a woman who was all black and purple.

At first, he didn’t mind her, despite the constant chill that followed her everywhere. He even believed her when she said that everything she was doing was for his own good.

And when no one believed him about the scars from her ”lessons”, he learned it was just best not to question her authority.

It took a while for him to finally understand the true nature of his treatment. But by that time, his will to fight as well as any remnant of his former self had all but dissolved away.

He had been nothing more than a shell. A mere hollow replica of the person he used to be. All the warm, happy, bright memories of his friends and the Islands felt so out of place with his reality, they might as well have belonged to someone else. As it stood, he was nothing more than a specialized tool with a specific talent for others to point at a target and use at their will.

Which came in handy when his escape from the woman meant doing the bidding of whoever would hire him. Whether legal or not. Including one particular organization of others with stories kind of like his. Whose colors almost reminded Riku of himself. Hollow, empty shells. Nobodies to those who lived and abided by the law. A vague, unknown threat to anyone who rivaled them.

He didn’t much care for them. Was certainly never actually one of them. But it didn’t matter. Nothing mattered. It didn’t matter who he hurt or what he did as long as he got the necessary payment to keep beyond the woman’s clutches.

That was where the man whose amber glow, wise and warm but with an undeniably astute, sharp edge found him.

The man didn’t ask too many questions, and when he did, he took Riku’s answers at face value. Whether honest or not.

Riku respected that.

Riku slowly learned to respect Ansem as a whole, after a couple years of a guardianship filled with mutual respect and solemn, silent understanding.

With Ansem’s help, he cut all ties with the gang he had been working for, and eventually started working for Ansem himself, as a runner for the older man’s errands.  
It wasn’t a bad life, after that.

Slowly Riku had begun to feel like a person again. And when he was old enough, he struck out on his own. College had seemed the best option, and now Riku was in his second year.

Independency suited Riku. He had learned to smile again, even if just for his job, and his special talent, it turned out, made it easy to interact with the customers who always seemed to like him. No matter how awkward his communication skills were.

 

Then the door opened. And the alarmingly bright lights got even brighter as their owners stepped into the store.

Two impossibly familiar faces came in one after the other.

It didn’t make sense.

They were both laughing. As bright and happy and full of joy as he remembered.

It couldn’t be them.

First one then the other suddenly turned to stare directly into his soul. Laughter replaced by disbelief.

It chad to be them.

“Riku!!” One of them shouted.

It was them.

Kairi was the first to snap out of her shock. Although he didn’t hear her voice, Riku saw her murmur his name as a disbelieving smile spread across her face.

Sora stood firmly rooted to the spot for a moment longer than strictly necessary. Just gaping at him.

But it was Sora who reached him first. Though that may have had to do with the running leap he suddenly took over the counter to get to Riku.

Riku’s instincts had him immediately backing out of harm’s way. Experience screaming at him that nothing good ever came out of anyone speedily encroaching on his rather large personal bubble.

Sora’s excitement seemed to have spent itself in the launch across the cafe, as he all but fell into Riku.

“Riku.” He just barely heard Sora mumble. He was staring up at Riku’s face, his expression seemingly equal parts euphoria and worry.

But as quickly as the energy had disappeared, it reappeared as Sora got to his own feet and turned toward Kairi, who was trying to hold in laughter at the spectacle.

“It’s Riku,” Sora said a little louder, though still somewhat breathless from his acrobatics act.

“Riku’s here!!” Sora all but cheered toward Kairi.

“I can’t believe this is happening!!” Kairi replied. Her laugh still hanging around the edge of her words as Sora scrambled back over the counter.

Riku, for his part, was at a loss for words. Or reactions at all, for that matter. He wasn’t sure he was even conscious at this point. This could all be just some wonderful, overwhelming dream. He used to have those after all. Maybe this was his brain’s version of a Christmas miracle.

So, he let autopilot take over for him while he figured out what was real and what wasn’t.

“Welcome. What can I do for you?” Riku heard his customer service voice speak.

But it wasn’t Sora or Kairi who answered. They just looked at him with concern and confusion. It was the comforting woman from before they came in. Now apparently ready to order.

“Aww sweetheart, you look like you’ve just gotten the best Christmas present ever.” She said, her smile big enough for all three of them.  
Riku, still stuck on autopilot just nodded.

“Well, don’t worry, I’ll be quick. I would just like a basic cappuccino if you please.”

Riku nodded and set to work. When it came time to pay, she gave a bill about three times too large for her order. When Riku tried to give her the change, however, she shook her head and told him it was to cover the next three orders (all while nodding toward the other two, now waiting their turn in line.)

With another smile and a Merry Christmas, she swept out the door, taking her comforting, honey cinnamon colors with her.

And there, in front of him, stood his two best friends. Staring at him as if unsure how to approach him.

The two most awkward drink orders of his career later, and he found himself sitting in the break room sipping on a Chai Latte while the other two hummed contentedly into their cups. None of them talking, just drinking in the warm liquid and each other’s presences.


End file.
